Slaking lime



UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST LESLIE .RANSOME, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

I .SLAKING LIME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 515,017,dated February20, 1894..

' Application filed April 6, 1893. Serial No. 469,318, (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST LESLIE RAN- SOME, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSlakingLime; and I do hereby declare that the following s a full, clear,and exact description of the lnventlon, which will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to a processof burning and slaking lime.

My process primarily relates to the utiliza-p tion of combustiblerefuse. On the th of July, 1885, Letters Patent No. 322,559 were grantedto me, for the manufacture of bricks I from the waste products ofcombustion, un-

der which the necessary amount of lime needed was burned with therefuse. This part of .the process had to be abandoned by reason of thecost and diffioulty experienced in thoroughly slaking the lime after ithad been by the amount of moisture is readily under control. The fire iskept near to the top of the furnace, by retarding the withdrawal oftheburnedmaterial. The current of moistened air in its upward passagethrough the burned material, cools it, and in consequence becomesheated; and in this heated condition upon reaching the hot lime, thathas just been rendered caustic in its passage through the fire, the hotvapor immediately and thoroughly slakes the lime while the mass ofburned matter containing the slaked lime gradually passesdown and out ofthe furnace. I so regulate the quantity of moisture in the current ofair that while ample is added to insure a thorough slaking of the lime,and for the purposes of combustion hereinafter mentioned, yet it is solimited as to prevent the burned mass from becoming too damp or wet forgrinding. Owing to the heat in the furnace causing the upward current ofair to become warmer as it passes through the burned mass, there is nodifficulty whatever in thus regulating the quantity of moisture.

The proportion of lime to the fuel greatly varies, dependent upon thecharacter of the fuel and the use to which the resultant ash One greatbenefit of this process, in addition to the chief one of slaking thelime, is that by this method the resultant clinker does not concrete ormass together in the furnace so much as it otherwise would, and thus itswithdrawal is more easily accomplished.

In carrying out this process I do it by preference in the furnace of afuel gas producer, wherein the fuel with its proportion of lime is fedin at the top and withdrawn at the bottom after the manner of acontinuous kiln; because in such a furnace the fuel is more thoroughlydecarbonized, the surplus heat is easier utilized, and the fumes of therefuse are rendered inoxious, while the carbonic acid given off from thelime improves the quality of the fuel gas; whereas in an ordinaryfurnace it is but a detrimental waste. I do not, however, limit myinvention to any particular furnace, nor do I confine this process tothe burning of lime carbonate only, for other limes that are renderedcaustic by the action of fire will answer the same purpose.

withdrawn from thefurnace in which it was burned substantially asdescribed.

ERNEST LESLIE RANSOME.

. Witnesses:

F. LESLIE RANSOME, BERNARD RANSOME.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patcut, is-

The process of slaking, disintegrating and 5 cooling the clinkerproduced in burning coinbustible matter containing lime by passing steamthrough the burned mass before it is

